Proof that Women's Hockey Deserves More Respect
She burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old playing on the fourth line at the 2010 Olympics scoring the only 2 goals in the gold medal game as Canada would win its third straight Olympic Gold. Four years later in Sochi at the 2014 Olympics, she tied the game with less than 2 minutes left and scored the OT winner. In 2018, she put Canada on her back again, only for them to fall short in a shootout. Last summer at the Women's World Championships she scored another gold medal winner as Canada won their first World Championship since 2012 and last night, she scored another two goals, including the game winner to lead Canada back to glory and brought the gold back where it belongs.
Marie-Philip Poulin has been a model of consistency, hard work and leading by example for the past 12 years and at this point has cemented her status as one of, if not the greatest of all time. According to her teammates, she is the most humble person they know and absolutely hates talking about herself and her talent, often deflecting to how good her teammates are. If she doesn't like talking about herself, let's let the stats do the talking then.
U18s: 10GP, 26PTSWorld Championships: 44GP, 55PTSOlympics: 22GP, 35PTSTotal: 76GP, 116PTS
On top of those ridiculous numbers, she is the only player, male or female to score in four Olympic gold medal games and has 7 of Canada's 10 goals in those four gold medal games. The scary thing is that she is only 30 and certainly has a few more World Championships and Olympics in her. Who needs an MVP when you have an MPP right?
The work was done by legends such as Cammi Granato, Hayley Wickenheiser and others to put women's hockey on the main stage and this generation of superstars with Poulin and USA's Hilary Knight have taken the reigns and helped push the women's game into the spotlight, showcasing that they are just as skilled and provide just as much entertainment as their male counterparts. They have continued to break barriers and pave the way for younger superstars like Sarah Fillier, Sarah Nurse and others. Speaking of breaking barriers, Sarah Nurse not only broke Hayley Wickenheiser's record for most points in a single Olympics with 18, but she became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold in women's hockey.
Sure, the other countries are behind Canada and the USA in terms of development and resources for their women's players, but that was also the case years ago at the World Juniors. Now the World Juniors have more parity than ever and with the growth of the women's game the past few years, it will only be a matter of time before we see just as much parity here too.
It's long past time that we put some respect on Marie-Philip Poulin's name and on women's hockey as a whole.
